Sam and I had quite a week with our backyard animals, particularly the gold finches. We had a gold finch feeder on our deck (it has since moved to the middle of our backyard) that caused injury to at least 2 birds :( Very sad, I know! This past Sunday a gold finch hit our backdoor, and he was stunned for quite a time. He sat on our deck for at least 30 minutes before he hopped off. I said hopped off because he had injured his wing and couldn't fly. On Monday we noticed the little fella hopping around our backyard and eating fallen bird seed in the grass. He had made a home in the ivy that was growing on our neighbor's fence. Again, we felt a stab in the heart. At lunch time on Tuesday, we saw the gold finch sitting in the grass, and finally we decided that we had to do something. I made a call to our Wild Bird Unlimited store who put me in touch with a lady (who happened to be out of town) so she gave me another lady's name that takes injured birds if you drop the bird off at the WNC Nature Center. Later Tuesday afternoon, I saw the bird in the middle of the backyard, so I knew that was my chance to catch him. Since he couldn't fly, he was quite easy to catch. However, I didn't have a box set-up to put him in, so I frantically called my mom and asked her what to do. I'm holding the bird in my left hand, talking to my mom on speaker phone, and stabbing holes in the top of a Nordstrom box with a chopping knife (scissors weren't working with only 1 available hand). I sadly took the little bird to the Nature Center. I know he is in good hands, and I hope he survives. He certainly wouldn't have survived in our backyard with an injured wing.
Now, fast forward to Tuesday evening, I'm getting ready to go to yoga, and Sam calls me downstairs to point out another injured gold finch, this time a female. Again, she was in the middle of our backyard eating seed off the ground. Now, just take that knife in our hearts, turn it and dig deeper. We were so upset to see another injured bird. These little birds are so cute, and pretty, they are yellow, my fav color! I went outside and caught the bird before my yoga class. She was feisty and more difficult to catch - she could hop fast. Sam built her an overnight home and a transport home. We felt bad keeping her in a shoe box all night. Resourceful Sam, took a wire mesh basket that holds cleaning supplies, and made a lid out of cardboard for the lid. He put a little cup of water and bird seed in there for her, and thankfully she was still eating, so that's a good sign of life. The next morning, I took our newly named bird Kate to the WNC Nature Center to join her now named friend William. We did the best we could for these 2 finches, and we moved our bird feeder on Sunday evening, and today received something to put on our windows and doors so they don't get confused.
Makeshift Home for Kate (taken with iPhone at night, so sorry for the poor quality)
Travel Home for Kate, windows are made from ziploc bags : ) (Again taken on iPhone)
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